South Korea's foreign reserves expanded for the first time in four months in February thanks to a rise in dollar-converted value of holdings and other investment profits, central bank data showed Friday.

The country's foreign reserves stood at $461.8 billion as of end-February, up $240 million from the previous month, according to the data provided by the Bank of Korea (BOK).

This marked the first on-month growth following three previous months of declines in foreign reserves.

The February rise came in part from an increase in the dollar-converted value of the central bank's holdings in other currencies. A rise in profits from investments in other assets also contributed to the expansion.

Foreign reserves consist of securities and deposits denominated in overseas currencies, International Monetary Fund reserve positions, special drawing rights and gold bullion.

The data showed that foreign securities were valued at $410.8 billion as of end-February, up $1.8 billion from the previous month. The figure accounted for 89 percent of total foreign reserves.

But the value of deposits declined $1.6 billion to $26.2 billion at the end of February, which made up 5.7 percent of the reserves. Gold holdings remained unchanged at $4.8 billion, according to the data.

South Korea was the world's eighth-largest holder of foreign reserves as of end-January. China led the pack by owning foreign reserves valued at around $3.2 trillion, the data showed. (Yonhap)